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Back to basics

France 4th August 2010

At the moment I am pretty much getting up when the sun rises and go to bed at sunset, sometimes even earlier. This is because of the summer time here with the sun coming up around 6am and setting down around 10pm! So my exposure to electric light is very minimal and basic, in fact I sleep without the blinds closed at night!

The interesting thing with being on holiday is that you are generally less fuzzy about things. I am the type of person that just wants to relax and re-energise and the last thing on my mind is worrying about luxury. I like my comfort but what I am saying is that I don’t need a Foscarini hanging of the ceiling, I am perfectly happy with a bare light bulb…which is actually the case at the place where I am staying 🙂

Taking a break from hectic work and life allows you to go “back to basics”. No TV, no internet (though I make an exception for this blog), no email, no phone and certainly no sophisticated lighting systems and scene sets for lighting! It is funny how you stream along with life’s expectations, which somehow seem artificially created. I guess I am guilty of creating lighting expectations as much as anybody else. So much so that I realize how difficult it has become to design something simple and basic!

Now that I have the time to take a step back, just enjoy life and spend quality time with my family I realize how much we have drifted away from our basic needs. Part of the green movement certainly includes going back to basics. In the early days people got by with just fire, torches and candles.

At heart we are simple beings and easily satisfied with just our basic needs. Sophisticated lighting is certainly not one of them even though we like to believe as lighting designers it is!